4 Ways Community Support Workers Make Our World a Better Place

Are you motivated to make a real, meaningful difference in your community? Would you like to make a positive impact on the lives of those around you? Community Support Worker training can help you do just that, through the meaningful support you can provide to people with disabilities.

Stenberg CSW grad Tara Frazer is proud that her support helps individuals with disabilities find independence and meaningful employment.

In the words of community support work client Majeet Ghangass: “I want the world to be more caring, and take more time—not just to understand us, but to accept us for who we are.” With the right training, Stenberg grads are helping their communities do just that.

Read on to learn four ways community support workers are helping to make the world a better place.

1. Community Support Workers Promote Inclusion and Compassion

Community Support Workers are the skilled professionals who promote safe, inclusive, and nurturing environments where their clients’ abilities can shine.

The goal of community support work is to help people with disabilities confidently participate in broader community life, says Stenberg Community Support Worker program grad Verlynn Mariano. She and her peers work to ensure that people with disabilities aren’t discriminated against or ignored by others in their communities.

“As soon as you’re around people with disabilities more, you start to learn they’re just like everybody else. Everyone’s got gifts and talents to share with the world.”

Once you have earned your diploma, you can join the ranks of Community Support Workers who help show the world what these individuals have to offer.

2. Community Support Workers Facilitate Health and Wellness

Modern community support work training is moving disability management continually forward, toward a modern, well-rounded model of care. Experts understand that people with disabilities deserve the same quality of life that all other Canadians do, and that supporting their particular health needs is a central part of achieving equality.

Community Support Workers can be the key ingredient in happiness, health, and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities, physical challenges, and other special needs. For example, the right training can help you implement specialized leisure, health, and fitness programs in your community. Whichever support path you choose, community support work training will help you model, teach, and uphold a wide variety of health aspects that help clients achieve their greatest quality of life.

3. Community Support Workers Help Clients Achieve Meaningful Employment

With supportive, hands-on employment training, many Community Support Workers choose to use their training to guide their clients toward fulfilling, independent employment in a variety of fields.

A display Semiahmoo House uses to showcase the success of its training program participants.

Stenberg graduate Jo-Ann Ahonen is now the manager of a program that prepares people with disabilities for employability in custodial, landscaping, and creative industries.

“What we’re trying to accomplish with employment training and support is a sense of confidence, and people having choice… just like everybody else,” she says, “and to have job opportunities as well.”

These professionals say their work helps individuals grow the independence and self-esteem they need to succeed. If you become a Community Support Worker, you too can do this kind of meaningful work, and witness its rewarding results.

4. CSW Training Can Help Others Follow their Dreams

Doug Tennant, executive director of the community support-centred Semiahmoo House Society, believes that today’s best community support work training teaches graduates how to strike the delicate balance between providing assistance and supporting their clients’ individual agency.

With the right support, people with disabilities can find fulfillment that pushes boundaries and exceeds expectations.

“They understand that support doesn’t mean ‘control over,’ it means supporting someone to live the life that that person wants to live,” he explains. “Listening to people and understanding what they want to do, what’s important to them” allows the support worker to “help that person live as full a life as possible.”

With the right training, a compassionate nature, and a commitment to inclusion, equality and respect, you can truly dedicate your career to helping people with disabilities live their very best lives.

Interested in Learning More?

Stenberg College offers a 32-week Community Support Worker program designed to prepare graduates to provide support to people of all ages who have a developmental disability or dual diagnosis.